Album of the Evening

[One and a half]

Jennifer Warnes - The Hunter

 

[One and a half]

Focus 3

 

Jan Akkerman is one of the legends of the rock/jazz guitar. Keep coming back to this album.

 

[One and a half]

Van der Graaf Generator

 

[One and a half]

Readily agree with that

 

[One and a half]

Space Ritual

 

Add to Progressive Rock post.

 

[One and a half]

Tapestry, just a masterpiece.

 

[One and a half]

Starless and Bible Black,

 

especially Fracture loud

 

[One and a half]

how does this compare to Further Adventures and the first album?

I find the SQ on the dmp still 1st class even after all these years at redbook.

 

[One and a half]

Stones in the Road

 

Worth the Grammy, just wonderful

 

[One and a half]

Renaissance

Novella

 

Unusual for their time, and still so unusual even now. A combinatin of classical, operatic, folk, experimental rock. I can't imagine anyone who likes both Yes and Joni Mitchell, wouldn't enjoy them.

 

Agreed, totally, still fresh today, I listen to Novella regularly. The acoustic guitar lead in "The Sisters" at 4:43 truly inspiring, and also a great audio test.

 

 

"Turn of the Cards", another great Renaissance album, especially Mother Russia, red blood on white snow...

[One and a half]

If you like Abba, and if you like Jazz, Funk with rap (not too much tho)...!

 

Nils Landgren Funk Unit "Funky Abba". Really neat especially "When all is said and done", very moving. "Voulez vous", "Summer night City" grooves along, actually it's a great song for driving. Some lovely backing vocals from the girls, with leads sometimes, hey worth a listen.

 

Is on itunes, but I saw the other day on HiresAudio.

 

AND in 96/24

 

 

 

[One and a half]

a sentimental evening

Why at the age of 11 would I have been drawn so into this music?

Is this the classical of my generation?

....or just a dream....

 

Songwriters: CAPALDI, JIM / WINWOOD, STEVE

 

If you see something that looks like a star

And it's shooting up out of the ground

And your head is spinning from a loud guitar

And you just can't escape from the sound

Don't worry too much, it'll happen to you

We were children once, playing with toys

And the thing that you're hearing is only the sound of

The low spark of high-heeled boys

 

The percentage you're paying is too high priced

While you're living beyond all your means

And the man in the suit has just bought a new car

From the profit he's made on your dreams

But today you just read that the man was shot dead

By a gun that didn't make any noise

But it wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest was

The low spark of high-heeled boys

 

If you had just a minute to breathe and they granted you one final wish

Would you ask for something like another chance?

Or something similar as this? Don't worry too much

It'll happen to you as sure as your sorrows are joys

And the thing that disturbs you is only the sound of

The low spark of high-heeled boys

 

If I gave you everything that I owned and asked for nothing in return

Would you do the same for me as I would for you?

Or take me for a ride, and strip me of everything including my pride

But spirit is something that no one destroys

And the sound that I'm hearing is only the sound

The low spark of high-heeled boys

 

The Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys

lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

[One and a half]

Two Live Albums 1970's

 

Noddy Holder and the Lads - Slade Alive!

 

 

The Who Live at Leeds

 

[One and a half]

A couple of albums from Japan, Language, cross of Electronica, Lounge, Rock thrown in and in DSD. Bit of a change from small trio Jazz groups to listen to something different.

 

Northern Lights is more an ambient, not snooze inducing through. This release to download consists of MP3 and DSD64 in the one zip.

 

 

Magure is more Rock oriented if you like, but not heavy. Available as a WAV and DSD128 in the one zip.

 

[One and a half]

Cojok + virtue Sawa blue string quartet deserve a plug here, this recording is live to Hdisc , DSD64. The recording details are on the page.

 

The Zip contains DSD64 and the mp3, also available in DSD128.

 

 

[One and a half]

Yamina "Love Letters" DSD DL from DSFiles.com: "First recording directly to DSD128 on a Korg MR2000S", available on DS64 or DS128 at the nice price:

 

dsdfile.com | Yamina – Love Letters EP

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8238[/ATTACH]

 

Very nice music and recording!

 

Roch

 

Yamina's voice is to the right of centre with the piano in the middle and across to the left and about the same height as if she is sitting at the piano. That's really neat and how it should be, magnificent recording.

[One and a half]

Lyn Stanley - Lost in Romance

 

Blue Coast recommended, just about all formats offered for Jan special at $12 for the album. Very polished perfomances, the recording on headphones even has space Highly recommended.

 

Musicians:

Lyn Stanley — Vocals

Tamir Hendelman — Piano

Mike Lang — Piano

Llew Matthews — Piano

Trey Henry — Bass

Jim DeJulio — Bass

Kevin Axt — Bass

Jeff Hamilton — Drums

Bernie Dresel — Drums

Paul Kreibich — Drums

Gilbert Castellanos — Trumpet & Flugelhorn

Steve Rawlins — Finger Snaps

Bob Sheppard — Tenor Saxophone

Bob McChesney — Trombone

Thom Rotella — Guitar

 

Producer, Steve Rawlins

Executive Producer, Lyn Stanley

 

Recorded at Conway Studios,

Ocean Way Studios,

Studio City Sound and LAfx Studios - Los Angeles, CA

 

Recording Engineer - Tommy Vicari

Mixed by Al Schmitt at Capitol Records Studio - Los Angeles, CA

Assistant Mixing Engineer - Steve Genewick

Pro Tools Engineer - Spencer Guerra

Mastered by - Bernie Grundman, Bernie Grundman Mastering

 

Photography - Anthony Mongiello, Tony Eng, Carl Palicke

Cover design - Katie Mecham

 

Special Thanks - Paul Smith, Annette Warren, Marge Rivingston, Alex Vardin, Paula Salvatore, Brent Thomas Mills & Walter Lyon Bloom

 

Tamir Hendelman - courtesy of Resonance Records

 

Released 2013

 

[One and a half]

[h=3]Marialy Pacheco - Introducing[/h]Not only is her looks hot, but her piano work ranges from soft and delicate to progressive rock riffs, with that Cuban Latin heritage. Her well supported band members, bass, drums, occasional trumpet...just add the icing on the cake. The recording.... this is a classic example of how to make an intimate, well presented imagery of a small group in jam session. Just love it. 5 stars for the recording, 4 and a bit for content. Just a wow overall.

 

Available from HighResAudio 96/24 FLAC

 

[One and a half]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13693[/ATTACH]

 

Eiji Oue

Minnesota Orchestra

 

 

Also available in DSD from Super Hirez. Would be interesting to compare the HDT PCM and a DSD derived from the same source.

[One and a half]

This album popped up as a new release at Highresaudio, always worthwhile to pursue discovery, and this one is a gem. The album is classified as Jazz, hmm, not too sure about that. If you like Ola Gjeilo, please give this album a worthy listen.

 

 

 

SQ: The file for sale is 174.6fs, so maybe the original was recorded at 48fs, or a rip from SACD...? There's no sewer tunnel echoes here, it's as if the players are in your room so to speak, kinda like that, although the recording in churches form 2L are something really special again. Clean recording, reasonable height and depth.

 

Notes from Hiresaudio

 

The creation of Pascal Mailloux’s first solo album was inspired by a particularly touching story. While musical director of a charity show in Montreal, Pascal made the acquaintance of a new friend at the end of her life.

 

 

To relieve her, to make her dream, and to give her hope, he sent her tunes composed on his piano. Pascal then decided to record the anthology of these instrumental pieces on this album, engraving notes like so many rocks eroded by the ebb and flow of the sea.

 

 

Pascal Mailloux clearly defined style has been inspired by pop-rock sounds. However, we have yet to discover the nuances and the vast palette that he has developed through his work as a composer of TV show themes, movie scores, adverts, and, of course, background music. It is this facet of his talent that this project seeks to introduce. Mr. Mailloux recruited double bassist Domenic Romanelli, guitarist Olivier Vinson and cellist Etienne Ratthé to create a pop-classical musical universe in which diverse influences converge, including jazz and world music, into the current of easy listening.

 

 

Pascal Mailloux, piano

Domenic Romanelli, upright bass

Olivier Vinson, guitar

Etienne Ratthe, cello

[One and a half]

The samples sound really nice.

 

The only thing that bothers me a bit is Highresaudio's pricing policy. €21 for an album is a lot. Qobuz has the redbook for €9.99, unfortunately not the 24/176. But honestly while I love high-res I wonder whether a 105% premium over redbook is justified. Is the SQ really that good?

 

I just listened to Ocean Bolero, the high hat is *just* there in the centre and fades to the right channel, that's pretty cool mic placement. The double bass has a lot of impact on this track, goes really deep. It's difficult to compare since I don't own the redbook, and my DAC converts everything to 2 x DSD, but the information must be there to begin with. The price is always a problem and how much that extra it's worth over the redbook, a personal decision for sure, maybe there's another vendor you know of?

 

After I wrote the above, there's a tech defect with track 02, it cuts short by about 60s. It's not the first time for Highresaudio where not just bits are missing but gobs of them are. They respond promptly, depending on how fast they can replace the track from their supplier, it's no more than two days and the the correct file can be downloaded.

[One and a half]

I heard the bass lines from this album and don't you think that's because it is studio album, where all musicians play in a separatrd room the double bass sounds little bit muddy and boomy and slightly off of the rest of the band?

 

I wouldn't class the double bass as boomy or muddy, it's speed matches the piano in time, perhaps there's some mutual resonance between the two instruments. One day they might release the DXD and the balance may be different, wouldn't think so. Perhaps this question should be directed to the producer.

[One and a half]

Excellent album, thanks for the recommendation...!

 

From the booklet: It was recorded in DXD 352.8fs / 32 bits. BTW, I love Fidelio Recordings work of art.

 

Roch

 

Now if Mr. Waldrep would aspire to do the same...

[One and a half]

If he is happy under 96fs, let it be... Gran-gran-granpa was also happy listening to the Dolce Belle radio station on his long wave radio of those days.

 

I found no faults on track 2 "Ocean Bolero". I downloaded it as Unzipped Flac format yesterday.

 

The double-bass is OK to my taste , following the pianist left hand. Maybe it's the way Olivier Vinson plays this instrument non forcing the chords?

 

Regarding price of the hi res , maybe we have to pay more to be closer to the original?

 

Roch

 

A new file was downloaded couple hours later, thanks to speedy Hiresaudio support, well done. Must have been a dud download process.

[One and a half]

Best icon to come out of Canada (apart from Maple syrup)

 

Cowboy Junkies.

 

The album Open on SACD is quite a treat and challenging for playback. The guitars are heavily distorted for artistic purposes, yet the drums and vocals are very clear, sometimes the distortion resonates and you'd think the track is totally distorted, but it isn't.

 

Musically strongest tracks are Dragging Hooks (classic prog rock rhythm), Upon Still Waters, Dark Hole Again, look there are quite a few different and classic styles ranging from ethereal to 'pop' to suit various tastes.

 

 

The SACD is used from USD45 to new at over USD2200...Yikes